Database systems and other application-level software store data, such as user data, for later use by the application. The computer system executing the application includes the storage devices to which that data is sent. Some computer systems and storage devices include features intended to decrease the chance that data will be lost, however these data storage methods operate at a lower level than the application data. For example, one conventional data storage method is Redundant Array of Independent Disks or RAID. In a computer system employing RAID, data is distributed across a group of computer disk drives that function as a single storage unit. When operating correctly, all the information stored on each of the disks is duplicated on other disks in the array. This redundancy attempts to ensure that no information will be lost if one of the disks fails.